WOODEN ROCKING HORSE

Introduction: WOODEN ROCKING HORSE

About: I am a sixty-year-old teacher from Portugal. I have several hobbies, but mainly I write poetry (when the muses are available), I paint and draw and I love woodworking.
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I have been remodelling an old apartment. As usual, there is much material that ends up not been used.

So, I ended up with a few boards and pieces of wood that had to be thrown away or transformed into wood for the fireplace.

But as I have a grand-daughter who is 13 months old, soon the idea of a Christmas present for Leonor, began to grow in my mind.

I have not taken photos of all the steps I had to go through to put it together because I hadn’t thought of publishing it here. But I may recall all the steps and try to explain what and how I did it, even if I have only photographs of the rocking horse almost completely assembled.

This instructable is going to be the first one I ever published. That is the reason why I haven't documented the process the whole way through. Next time I will be prepared.

I do not work wood professionally, as I am a teacher. But I love working with it. It is a relaxing hobby.

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Step 1: Lots of Pieces Od Wood and an Idea

Lots of bits and pieces of wood that could be used to make something useful.

Then the next step was trying to imagine a rocking horse similar to the one I had as a child… But I had only this old photograph and it is a bit difficult to imagine how it was built. I’ll try it later. So I devised a new one. After having googled for images of wooden rocking horses, I decided to invent my own.

Step 2: Deciding About Measures

Then I had to decide the proportions and measurements so that Leonor can use it for a long time.

The seat is about 40 cm high, the rocking basis is 60 cm long and the total height including the head is 75 cm high.

The base is 40 cm wide.

Step 3: Cutting, Sanding, Assembling, Varnishing

Then I had to cut the wood pieces and assemble them. Then all the details as sanding it, screwing it all together and varnishing it.

Cutting it was the most difficult task as the wood was 2,5cm thick and difficult to cut with a hacksaw.

Step 4: This Is the Result

In the end, it came out like this. The next problem I had to face was finding a box and enough wrapping paper to prepare it as a Christmas present to put by the Pine Tree.